Since childhood, Zakariyya lives in poverty with his family. Nevertheless, he uses his experience to break the taboo about this subject. For instance, he has been involved in SIRE’s campaign on child poverty to put the subject on the table. He also founded the Hey You Foundation to constantly keep the theme on the political agenda and to collect items for poor families. With his awareness raising campaigns, people realize that poverty is also present in developed countries like the Netherlands. Moreover, Zakariyya believes that every child has the right to equal opportunities and an equal future. Thus, he also wants to break the taboo around other subjects than poverty to make all invisible visible. Thus, he now plans to also tackle topics such as sex education for children and violence at home.